Dear Boyfriend
by alienxginsberg
Summary: You and Karkat have been dating for... 3 years now? You have to make some kind of move right? And with your artistic creativity and stunning charm with the camera this should be a no-brainer! Get to crafting, boy! ((Based off of Ashley Mardell's "Dear Girlfriend" video but a little different. I hope you guys like gross fluff bc thats all this is. Rated T bc language maybe.))


DAVE: film a heartfelt proposal video for your boyfriend of 3 years

You pull back from the camera and situate yourself on the edge of your bed, bouncing up and down several times. A heavy sigh escapes your lips as you rub your nervously sweaty palms on your jeans. You can do this.

"Alright. So... here goes nothing, I guess," you pause for a moment to let out a nervous, giggle or two, stifling them at the last moment. Oh man, you're so nervous, "Karkat Vantas. My boyfriend of 3 years now. Will you do me the favor of..." you wait a minute so that you'll know where to rewind it in when you edit the whole clip later and then continue on with the rest of your speech, reaching around and turning off the camera when you're done. You don't grab it and watch it back though like you usually would. (You're pretty sure that was a fine run and you're not going to get any less nervous by doing it over and over again. Best to do it now when your feelings are raw as any other to avoid looking rehearsed.) Instead you flop back onto the bed, your arms stretched out around you like a bird spreading its wings.

You can hear your phone buzz at the other side of the room and you smile. It's probably Karkat letting you know he's on his way... or (your stomach plummets) he's just heard everything you've said but ran back downstairs and called you to pretend like he wasn't going to surprise you by being early. You sit up and try to calm yourself down as you walk to the phone and pick it up.

"This is Dave Strider, cool kid extraordinaire speaking. How might I help you?" You say nonchalantly.

"Oh. Oops. This must be the wrong number. I'm looking for Dave Strider, the fucking weirdo. My bad," you laugh in response.

"Oh that's my roommate! Hold on just a moment," you pull the phone away from your mouth, "Hey Dave! This one's for you. Oh me? Alright. Hand it here," you put the phone up to your mouth again, "'Sup?"

Karkat laughs on the other end, "I'm almost there. Traffic is really bad down here, though. Apparently some idiot broke down the highway and by doing so gave clearance to all the other idiots to be even bigger idiots and block the fuckin' road," you sigh heavily in relief. There wasn't any way that Karkat could have heard what you said, "What was _that_ for?" Karkat asked.

"Oh. Nothing. Just... I'm on my computer and like you said. Idiots. But anyway, how was your day, my beloved?" You lean against your bed again.

Karkat scoffed at the nickname, "Same old shit as usual. I really hope that I manage to actually have one of my screenplays produced. I don't think I can go back to work at that video store again without going absolutely nutso, Dave," you chuckled on the other end.

"Well try to stay sane at least until you get here. I've got something to show you and it's really important that you retain at least some sense of mind while you watch it. It's gonna be great, babe. Just you wait," you grin into the phone, absolutely giddy with nervous butterflies.

"Something to show me? I hope it's not another one of your shitty comics. Or at the very least not another shitty short film about dinosaurs," Karkat voice seemed to grin and Dave shook his head.

"Mm-mm. Better than all that," he replied. Karkat hummed noncommittally on the other end before sighing.

"Well I need to pay attention to the road. Else one of these fuckers is gonna cut me off like a tool and I'll have to rearend them. I'll see you when I get there, okay? Don't get into too much trouble!"

"Aye-aye, Captain Vantas. Will do. Drive safe," Dave brought the phone down away from his ear and ended the call. The nerves were really hitting him now... Dave pushed the very notion that maybe Karkat would say no out of his mind. He didn't need those negative thoughts right now. He needed to focus. He needed to finish editing his video.

Dave threw his phone out on the bed and reached towards his desk to grab his laptop, sitting it on his lap and opening up his video editing system. Clips of cardboard art experiments and cute-looking transitions greeted him. If Dave was being completely honest, it was out of his comfort zone - all the cute and colorful stuff - but after a couple hours of working on it, he found that he kind of liked the raw effect that some of it had. It was very handmade and heartfelt looking when it was all done with and after Dave adds this last part the video will be complete. 100% ready for Karkat to look at and for Dave to film his reaction. Upset feelings of fear bubbled up in Dave's chest and he pushed the thoughts away desperately. No sad feelings today. None. Not until either of them are sure of what's going to happen.

Dave deftly finished editing the video, his sunglasses pushed up onto the top of his head while he worked, and snapped his computer closed when he was done. Karkat was probably almost here by now and some cleaning was still in order. Dave stood up, setting his laptop on the comforter of his bed and stretching, feeling the joints in his back pop in succession. Leaving his room, Dave picked up several jackets that were just lying around and hung them on the little coat rack Karkat forced him to buy when the two of them were moving in with each other. He also cleared up his trash from where he fixed his lunch on his own (it was a disaster, of course, but Karkat didn't need to know that) and as an afterthought, pulled out his phone to play some music while he tidied up.

"Oh yes. Oh _heck_ yes," Dave nodded enthusiastically to the sudden burst of "Come and Get Your Love" from his phone. _This_ was some good cleaning music. 105%. He knew all the words by heart and even put together his own little dance to it in his head. Secretly he kind of considered it his and Karkat's song, though that was never something he'd mention aloud However, he couldn't resist putting it in the background of some of the clips in his video to Karkat. The opportunity was just too good.

Bouncing along to the beat of the song, Dave commenced to cleaning up his apartment. In a matter of minutes, the objective of cleaning had long since left Dave's mind and he was much more focused on his voice, singing into the wooden broom handle with a reckless abandon that made Karkat smile as he quietly closed the apartment door behind him. He was really tempted to just let Dave enjoy himself, but there was only so much of that god-awful singing he could take.

"Could you stop, maybe? You're a god-awful singer, I do hope you know that, and I believe it'd be not only to the benefit of your boyfriend but also your neighbors if you'd kindly shut up," Karkat dropped his bag next to the door and leaned against the door jamb, crossing his arms over his chest. Without even stopping to say hello, Dave barrelled into the chorus of the song and leaned heavily in Karkat's direction, gripping the handle of the broom tightly in his hands, "Is this what you wanted to show me, Dave? You're going to become the next Lolly Vasquez? Do you want me to pretend to be proud of you or something?"

Dave simply grinned and belted out another off-key note, causing Karkat to snicker behind a cupped hand and shake his head before sauntering forward and wrapping his hands around the broom handle Dave was using as a microphone. He jerked, making to take the handle from Dave, but Dave jerked back, pulling Karkat closer to him and continuing to scream song lyrics. Karkat laughed, ducking his head to his chest, and finally raising it to sing into the broom handle as well, almost making it long enough to finish out the song with Dave before he burst into laughter.

Dave reached over, letting go of the broom handle momentarily to pause the music on his phone. Feeling the nervousness, bubbling in his chest, Dave looked back at Karkat. Both of their cheeks were flushed a light pink from laughter and a contented quiet settled between the two of them before Dave let go of the broom completely and allowed Karkat to set it to the side, propped up on the counter.

"How was your drive?" Dave asked nonchalantly, clearing his throat.

"Boring mostly. Outside of the excessive traffic, nothing exceptionally special happened. What's with the impromptu concert?" Karkat moved around the counter so that he'd be able to look Dave in the eye with one eyebrow raised.

"Ah, well, you can't really clean without the proper tunes, so," Dave locked his phone and shoved it in his pocket.

"Mm... you make a point. What was it you were going to show me?" Karkat's hands flittered about on the stone counter surface, patting it in anticipation. His nails made quiet clicking noises as they touched the cool acrylic.

Dave's stomach plummeted,"Are you hungry? Can I offer you a drink or somethin'?"

Karkat raised an eyebrow quizzically before shaking his head, "No? You can stop beating around the bush and show me whatever it was you said you had to show me. Seriously, what kind of jerk tells you they have something to show you and then never shows them?"

Dave's nerves spiked, "No, no, no. Listen, I was just... I mean... Um... Yeah. No. You're right." He motioned with his head for Karkat to follow him before heading back to his bedroom. Karkat followed excitedly, his hands forever patting the legs of his jeans in anticipation. Dave took a steeling breath and opened the door to his bedroom, passing quickly through the doorway to get to his computer. He opened it up and worked around in the windows a bit before pulling up the proposal video.

"You're, um... welcome to sit on the bed, I guess. It's where you're going to be sitting anyways. Don't touch the computer just yet," Dave muttered, embarrassedly. He shuffled over to the desk and began readying his tripod and the camera to capture Karkat's reaction.

This was it. Dave was finally going to propose. He hoped his actions thus far would have led his Bro, wherever that guy might be, to be at least somewhat proud of him. Dave slid the thin laptop into his arms and onto Karkat's lap. The other seemed to barely be containing his curiosity.

"So what's this? What are we doing right now?" Karkat inspected the screen of the computer closely, seeking out all the details as they were presented to him.

"It's our anniversary and I wanted to film something for the channel and I figured I'd do a reaction video too. So that's what we're doing now. I'm going to leave for the first part of the video - don't worry it's nowhere as short as you'll think it's gonna be - and then i'm going to come back in the room. Cool?" Dave raised a worried eyebrow at Karkat, his legs almost too shaky to continue supporting his weight.

"Oh! Ok. Yeah that's cool," Karkat frowned at the screen, a little disappointed, but quickly replacing the frown with an affirmative nod, "Just let me know when to start."

Dave nodded and took another deep breath (Karkat raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but asked no questions as he was too focused on waiting for the cue to start the video). Clicking the button on his hand-held remote for the camera to begin recording, Dave nodded to Karkat, "Knock yourself out, dude. Except don't do that literally. Just have fun. Watching the video," Dave shut the bedroom door behind him quietly, listening attentively behind the door to his recorded voice so he'd know when to come back in.

"Alright. So... here goes nothing, I guess. Karkat Vantas. My boyfriend of 3 years now. Will you do me the favor of..," Dave could hear Karkat's sharp intake of breath before absolute silence and the rewinding sound effects of the video playing. He opened the door again, quietly, revealing Karkat now sprawled on the bed with a pillow tucked close to his chest and wide eyes glued to the screen. His face was partially squashed into the throw pillow, hiding what Dave assumed to be a huge grin, judging by the position of Karkat's eyebrows high up on his forehead. Dave took a quiet seat on the bed next to Karkat to watch the video with him, going through clips upon clips of their relationship over the years. All of Dave's jokes in the video, of course, drew chuckles out of Karkat. Nervous and quiet and tight as they were, they were still chuckles and they brought a little bit of confidence into Dave's smile, if Dave wasn't already confident enough in Karkat's answer when he walked in earlier. A quiet movement from Karkat brought Dave's attention back to the video, realizing that it's now reached the ending speech.

"So. Karkat. We've been through... a lot. And from being kicked out of our respective houses to moving in together on a whim to re-enacting your favorite rom-coms in the middle of IKEA, nobody can say that we haven't been there for each other. Nobody can say we aren't the closest friends they've ever seen either. You're not just my boyfriend, you're my best friend and I love you. So. Much," Dave quietly moved his legs around on the bed, reaching for the box on his bedside table. Karkat didn't so much as take his eyes off the screen for a second to watch whatever Dave was doing, "I want to grow old with you and watch Hallmark rom-coms every holiday with you and go on bike rides in the Fall with you and I want to marry you, Karkat. Will you?" Dave leaned back over the bed, one knee bent in as though he were going to criss-cross his legs and the other hanging off the front of the bed. The open ring box sat in his cupped hands, presented to Karkat with a barely contained grin on his lips.

Looking up from the screen, Karkat's eyes latched onto the ring box and he froze, his eyes wide. A chill settled in Dave's spine. Karkat wasn't moving at all. Was he going to reject Dave? Dave hadn't even properly prepared himself for rejection yet, having ignored the idea that Karkat could even say no up until today. Who knew how Dave was going to react? What if he just burst - "Sure. Why not?" Dave blinked, confused at Karkat. A lazy smile roped itself across Karkat's face, absolutely dopey and relaxed, "I can't think of anyone else who can deal with your ridiculous shenanigans and I can't think of anyone else who will actually sit and marathon Hallmark movies with me despite how much you complain. So, sure. Why not? I'll marry you."

The previous chill that had worked itself into Dave's spine had disappeared around the word shenanigans and a large grin began to replace the devastated frown that had appeared. By the end of Karkat's two-sentence speech Dave had already begun reaching for Karkat's left hand to slip the ring onto. It wasn't a very special ring - didn't cost too much, didn't have a lot of diamonds on it - but instead it was very simple with one slightly larger diamond in the center and with many small diamonds around the band of the ring. It fit almost perfectly, if not a bit loose, but Karkat likes to have something to fidget with in his hands so Dave figured he'd just twirl it around his finger a lot. No big deal.

Karkat quickly clicked the laptop shut and lunged forward to wrap his arms around Dave's neck, pressing his lips firmly to Dave's. After tossing the black velvet box, Dave wasted no time wrapping his own arms around Karkat and returning the kiss, a grin still ever present on his lips. They stayed like that for a bit, Karkat half on and half off of Dave's lap, his arms still firmly latched onto Dave and Dave's arms securing Karkat in their embrace. Karkat was the first to break the happy silence.

"Just so you know, I'm not letting you anywhere near the wedding planning. It'd be like your dumb trashy webcomic threw up all over the place and I am not into walking down the aisle in Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff paraphernalia." Dave laughed, clinging to Karkat tighter and daydreaming excitedly of the years to come.


End file.
